After days of deliberation, jurors found her guilty of attempting to kill her husband of 39 years, Ralph Brown, early Aug. 17, 2012, in their Winfield-area home.

“Oh God,” she kept repeating, before a few friends escorted her from the courtroom to recuperate before returning to hear the rest of the details.

Brown’s four-day trial began Feb. 26 before Judge Edward O’Farrell in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court in New Philadelphia. Jurors listened to hours of testimony detailing the rocky relationship between the 64-year-old woman and her 61-year-old husband.

Brown, who has one leg and one arm and uses a wheelchair, shot her husband once with her .38-caliber handgun on Aug. 17. The bullet grazed the side of his head while he was asleep in bed at about 3 a.m. He initially thought he was hit by a stray bullet, and he took a shower to rinse off the blood before driving to Union Hospital in Dover. Hospital personnel contacted law enforcement about the gunshot wound.

Sheriff’s Detective Capt. Orvis Campbell responded to the hospital, and interviewed the couple.

His videotaped interview with Brown at the sheriff’s office was shown during the trial. During their deliberations, jurors also asked to view the interview, in which Campbell challenged Brown about how her version of events differed during the videotaped interview from what she told detectives at the house.

In the video, Brown maintained it was an accident. She said she initially planned to commit suicide, and considered killing her husband, and then herself, but changed her mind.

“I was just going to throw it away, and say you ain’t worth it,” she told Campbell about the gun. However, as she began to put away the gun she lost her balance, and the gun fired, she said.

Campbell expressed sympathy for Brown’s marital situation, but told her that her story didn’t make sense. He said she initially told him that she had snapped and shot her husband. Campbell explained that it’s very difficult for someone to accidentally shoot someone with the double-action revolver that was used.

“It’s a very difficult gun to (make) go off because of the kind of trigger it has,” he told her.

During the trial, jurors had listened to Brown telling Campbell at length about her history with Ralph Brown. Aug. 16 was a special anniversary for Mary Brown because that marked the day she gave up her baby for adoption. She said she tried to attempt suicide after learning he was cheating on her. The overdose of sleeping pills and a mixture of chemicals that instead induced labor. She said he forced her to give the child up for adoption after the incident.

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During the trial, Public Defender Mark Perlaky argued that she was flustered and upset when she talked with Campbell. He said the extremely embarrassing aspects of the suicide attempt resulted in Mary Brown being reluctant to initially provide full details of what happened at the home. He said that as she later provided more details, she was told by Campbell that he didn’t believe her, and she became flustered.

Jurors deliberated for part of Friday, all day Monday and three hours on Wednesday before reaching the guilty verdict for attempted murder, with a gun specification. Brown was found not guilty of a charge of tampering with evidence.

The gun specification charge mandates serving three years in prison. The maximum sentence for attempted murder is 11 years in prison, Tuscarawas County Prosecutor Ryan Styer said Wednesday he will not seek the maximum penalty.

A sentencing hearing hasn’t been set, but O’Farrell said it will take place within six weeks.

As the investigating officer Campbell also believes that the verdict was the correct one.

“Throughout the course of the trial, the defense made accusations about our investigation and my interview. I felt strongly that my interview was appropriate and conducted correctly. I feel vindicated by the jury’s decision,” Campbell said. “However, there’s no happiness about the outcome. It is a truly sad case. I testified that I felt bad for her at the time that it happened, and I still do. But you can’t make exceptions for someone having a rough life or a physical disability when the charge is attempted murder.”